


Where have you been?

by Laramie



Series: Things you said [9]
Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-07 07:00:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5447447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laramie/pseuds/Laramie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thomas comes back from a mystery trip to York.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where have you been?

**Author's Note:**

> From a prompt from todowntononanimpala.
> 
> CW: Death mention.

**May 1924**

Thomas had been away all afternoon. He was entitled to be, of course; it was his half day. That didn't mean that Jimmy couldn't be disgruntled about it, or so Jimmy told himself. They had precious little time together as it was, without Thomas taking mystery trips into York alone. Jimmy had whiled away his own half day pleasantly, with a film in the Ripon cinema and a bag of sweets on a bridge over the river, where he kicked his feet over the swift water and watched the ducks at the slower edges.

Eventually, he made his way home - or back to the Abbey, at least. He spent an hour in the servants' hall chatting to Anna, before retreating upstairs to his bedroom when Bates finished his day's work and came in to join them. Jimmy liked Anna more the more time he spent with her, but he still found Bates a sanctimonious and unnerving person.

Jimmy was hanging his livery in his wardrobe when Thomas pushed open his door. There was a stumble in his step as he crossed the room and sank carefully onto Jimmy's bed, toeing off his shoes before swinging his legs over the duvet.

"Hello," Thomas greeted him, very deliberately.

Jimmy smiled and moved over to sit at the foot of the bed, looking up past Thomas's slightly bent knees to his face.

"You're drunk," Jimmy said. "Where have you been?"

"I 'ave been to talk to a lawyer," Thomas said, still speaking in the slow, careful voice he used to mask his inebriation. "And then I went for a very long walk, and then I got very drunk." He broke into quiet giggles which he hid with the back of his hand.

This was an answer that Jimmy had not been expecting. He took a moment to appreciate Thomas's joyous giggles, the spark in his eyes. He took hold of Thomas's foot and stroked it aimlessly, thinking that he might have sore feet if he had been for a long walk. "Why?"

"Because I got very good news," Thomas said, leaning forward conspiratorially.

"I meant why did you go to a lawyer?" Jimmy said, baffled by the news.

"You know how my dad died a couple'f weeksago?" Thomas began, slurring his words together a little as he gave up on acting sober.

"Yeah…" Thomas had told him about the letter from his sister, the first he had ever received from her since leaving home as a boy. Had told him that he didn't know how to feel about it, not having seen his dad in many years, and not having liked him much when he had. "You told me about the letter."

"I didn'tell you all ofit," Thomas admitted, lifting his arm tiredly and making a grasping motion at Jimmy. Jimmy obliged him enough to lean over and kiss his knee, but went no further; Thomas was clingy and prone to distraction when he was drunk, and Jimmy wanted to hear the end of this story. Thomas made an irritated noise. "Hold my hand, then," he said, and Jimmy did, though he was a bit uncomfortably far away.

"So what about this lawyer?" Jimmy prompted, when Thomas was focused on caressing his hand and said nothing more.

"Oh, well, I wento the lawyer about wha' my sister wrote. Dad left her the shop only she don' wan' it so she sold it for money. I don' know wha' else you can sell for, don' think she go' a whol'oad of chickens for it." His words dissolved into giggles again, a sound he only _ever_ made when drunk and hated Jimmy to remind him of when he had sobered up.

"Get on with it, you drunk old man," Jimmy said.

"Chickens in the shop though, Jimmy, all in the clocks and ev'rythin'!" He listed to one side in his amusement.

"Thomas!" Jimmy said sternly.

"Right, right. Um, so, money, Lil had some, and in the letter she wanted to give me some, well more than some, half actually."

"Christ," Jimmy said, wondering just how much that would amount to.

"An' I was askin' the lawyer if she could do that 'cause dad cut me out o' the will an' that, so I didn' wanto tell you in case he said no, but basically, what it is, is, my sister isgonna give me lotsof money for it!"

Jimmy blinked at him, struggling to keep up with his drunken logic. "For what?"

"Anythin'! Our gettin' out thing!"

"Ours?" Jimmy echoed. "But it's your money. I thought we were saving."

Thomas waved a hand carelessly, scrunching his mouth up. "Like I'd go without you, silly man."

Jimmy crawled up the bed and wrapped his arms around Thomas. "I love you. I'd love to get out of here with you." They shared a kiss, sloppy and sweet, until another thought occurred to him. He leaned up to look at Thomas's face. "Does this mean you're going to see your sister again?"

Thomas mouth became a hard line. His eyes flickered away. When he spoke again, some of the alcohol dripping from his words had dried up. "No. She doesn'… doesn't want to 'rock the boat'. Thinks we've got this far without each other and we can carry on just the same."

Jimmy could not imagine what that would be like; he had no siblings, and had always been on good, if often distant, terms with his cousins and other relations. He shifted, not knowing what to do to comfort Thomas. "I'm sorry."

"'Sall right, I think. I mean… we've got this far without each other." He nuzzled into Jimmy's neck, pulling him closer; Jimmy took the hint and gave him a squeeze. "Gettin' out, then," he said. "Where d'you want to go?"

"Don't care, long as I don't have to be a bloody footman."

"I swear, you will never have to be a footman again, my love," Thomas promised, his hand drifting over Jimmy's stomach and lower.

"Good. Now what do _you_ want to do?"

Thomas leaned in to whisper in Jimmy's ear, his voice low and filthy. "You know what I want to do."

His intentions were clear, but Jimmy held him off for a moment longer; "What do you want to do with the _money_?"

Thomas hummed, pulling Jimmy into an open-mouthed kiss. "I want to get a little place in York; we could afford it between us, with our savings, and this, and a little mortgage; and I want to fix and sell clocks. But right _now_ I want to touch every bit of you. What d'you think of that?"

Jimmy leaned in closer. "I think that sounds like an _excellent_ plan."

 


End file.
